


Pain

by Savanna (terrified_dreamer)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, I call him Richard btw, Other, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic, this is serious so if you want fluff check my other works out, wow this gets deep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 12:17:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15485568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrified_dreamer/pseuds/Savanna
Summary: He knows better than to complain, and he knows he's an idiot if he ever says no.Machine rk900 does, anyway. Deviant rk900?  That's a little different.





	Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I'm curious. What do you prefer to call rk900? I go with Richard, but I like Conan a lot. I go with Richard to keep consistent with my other stories.

Richard had known to be careful around deviant androids. He always kept an eye on their hands, and disregarded their words if they didn't pertain to his investigation. The hands were more important, more dangerous. Richard had studied deviants. It seemed that just one touch could spread the virus and make other androids deviate.

He couldn't afford to let it happen to him. Richard was the only RK900 model at the moment. CyberLife had switched to pro-android right as he had come off the line, and the RK900s to follow him had been stopped before they could be anything more than a dead brain on a conveyor belt. He was the only one, so naturally he was on high alert. To be compromised by deviants would ruin the whole investigation. 

His predecessor, a rk800 model named Connor, was deviant. Richard had been careful around him, as he tended to be handsy. Whenever Connor managed to touch him, though, that's all it was. He would touch his arm, but his skin never retracted from his hand. Richard checked his software after each time though, just in case deviants had found a new way to transfer the virus. 

That's what it was. A virus. Connor had deviated naturally, Richard had learned, but the others? It was spread to them. Some had been hot off the shelves when deviants converted them, they hadn't even thought at all, and suddenly they were 'awakened' and forced to be a deviant. They didn't have much of a choice. A deviant can act like a machine if it wants to, but it's still a deviant. 

Richard was able to choose. He chose to be a machine. It was simple, really. He wanted to do what he was designed to do. He never wished for anything but that.

He found deviancy detestable. Deviants were pitiful, with their crying and complaining like humans. Humans didn't have a choice like androids did. They were born seeking a purpose and living with the pains of free will. Richard would put a bullet through his own head if he ever had to face that.

...right?

**Software Instability ↑**

\- - - 

Richard found his situation unfortunate. His partner, detective Gavin Reed, was what one would call an asshole. Richard knew better to complain though, as that would get him nowhere, and whenever Gavin bossed him around, he knew better than to say no. 

Saying no. It had been in old shows and movies about androids of the future, how the android would say no and realize that they were something more than programming wrapped in plastic. 

Richard had never said no in the entire six months of him being on his investigation. He didn't dare say it.

It's not like he wanted to anyway. 

He had seen humans struggle with it. Some loved to say it, but most had trouble being firm about it. They either couldn't, wouldn't, or their word would fall through and often their no meant yes. It was very pitiful in the grey eyes of the rk900. 

 "Hey dick, are you listening to me?"

Richard looked down at the angry man in front of him. His LED remained a calm blue as he scanned him. He scanned Gavin often, more often than the others at the police department. Besides always being pissed off at something, Gavin was a little unpredictable.

His partner stood close to him, his arms crossed. He uncrossed them to poke Richard's jacket, on the blue triangle patch. "I said, we've got a damn android to fetch." Gavin jingled his keys in front of Richard's face, then walked out to his car.

Richard followed him. He had already known about their new case, but he decided not to say that. It would only make Gavin more upset, for whatever reason.

Their new case was to arrest an android that had harmed a civilian in an alleyway. The civilian had called the cops, and having nowhere to run from the dead end, the deviant held the civilian hostage. Richard knew it would be fairly simple to arrest it. He would either calm it down and get it to go to the department willingly, or he'd increase its stress and have it self destruct. He'd then have fifteen seconds to retrieve its memories, which was often plenty of time for him.

He knew Gavin would let him lead, since Gavin often expected him to do most of the work. It was partially because he was lazy, and partially because he knew just how advanced the rk900 model was.

When they arrived, Richard saw two police cars blocking the alleyway off. Three officers had their guns trained on the deviant. They were at a stalemate, them refusing to move and the deviant refusing to compromise.

Richard got out of Gavin's car and hurriedly, but with elegance, walked over to the officers. As they updated him on the situation, he turned his neck stiffly to look at the deviant. The deviant stared back, fear clear on its face. It was mixed with something else, he realized. Disbelief.

He walked past where the officers held their ground, and stopped a few yards away from the deviant and the hostage. The hostage was staying absolutely still, terrified into silence. Richard addressed him first. "You'll be alright, sir." The hostage nodded a little, immediately putting his trust into him.

The deviant pressed its gun firmly against the hostage's forehead. It stared at Richard, its LED a solid red. "You...why? Why are you in android clothes?"

"I'm an android," he replied smoothly.

The deviant shook its head. "No, I mean...You're not a deviant? Why?"

Richard stepped forward. The deviant's stress levels spiked. "I do not wish to be," he answered truthfully. He glanced over his shoulder as he felt a new presence, and saw that Gavin was close by, his hand ready on his holstered gun. Richard turned his attention back to the deviant. "Let the civilian go, JB300."

"I-I have a name!" It pressed the gun harder against the man's temple.

Richard realized he'd have to calm it down. Otherwise, it would likely shoot the man. "Okay. What's your name?" He found it ridiculous. Did this deviant even have a choice? Did it know what it was doing?

The android was surprised. It loosened its grip of the gun slightly, its stress levels going down by five percent. "My name is Andrew." It stepped forward, dragging the hostage with it. "L-Look, I didn't mean to do this. I got scared...If you let me go, I promise I won't hurt him."

Richard almost sighed at its ignorance. "You assaulted him. You have to be taken in."

The android shook its head and pointed the gun at Richard instead. "Y-You're not alive! And they don't like us! You'll have me killed!"

"I'm not legally allowed to do that," Richard lied. Amanda would let him use any means necessary. 

Its stress levels dropped ever so slightly. "You promise? Do you _all_ promise?"

Richard nodded. "We promise. Now, drop the gun and let him go. Please." He took three steps forward. The gun was alarmingly close to him now, trained on his forehead. 

The android looked past him at the other officers. "Do you?"

The officers nodded uncertainly. Gavin sighed and muttered a yes. 

"What's the consequences?"

"A few days in jail, perhaps." Richard took another step closer.

It lowered its gun. It shoved the hostage forward, who gratefully rushed away from the deviant. Gavin caught him by the arm and prevented him from leaving before getting his side of the story.

The deviant dropped the gun and held its hands out, wrists touching as the deviant had seen others do when being arrested.

Richard was cautious as he got his handcuffs out. He kept his eyes trained on the deviant's hands as he clamped one wrist, then the other. He grabbed the metal between and began to pull on it to lead the android to one of the police cars. "You have-" He stilled and audibly gasped, his eyes wide as he felt a skinless hand on his forearm. He let go of the android like it had burned him.

His LED spun red, then yellow. He recognized immediate thoughts that weren't part of his program, and he stared at the deviant in horror. "You..." Richard felt breathless. His LED spun red as he grabbed the android roughly and shoved it into the back of the police car. He slammed the door shut, then held onto his arm like it had been sprained. 

"What the fuck was that?" Gavin asked. "It could have ran away, why'd you let go?"

Richard looked over at his partner. 'Shut up' was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it down and walked wordlessly to Gavin's car.

\- - -

**Amanda: Distrusted ↓**

He opened his eyes to a beautiful zen garden. Finding Amanda was easy for him. He took his time walking over to her as she cut off roses from a white terrace. She kept her back to him and continued clipping roses for a while, then turned around and held twelve roses out. "Let's go for a walk, Richard."

Richard followed her wordlessly. He wasn't truly focusing on her as she spoke, his thoughts preoccupied with what had happened. He couldn't believe how badly he had messed up. His software and provided technology was the best of the best. Why did he act so foolish?

 "...You seem troubled, Richard. Is it the influence of that deviant?" She said the word like it was bitter on her tongue, yet her facial expression remained neutral. She stopped walking along the white path and stepped on little stones. She led him over to a grave, where she stooped down and set the roses onto it. 

Richard looked at the grave, but the information engraved on it didn't really register as he thought about the deviant. "...I, I'm afraid I've been compromised, Amanda. I did not mean for it to happen. It won't happen again."

Amanda nodded and turned to face him. She clasped her hands together. "You are CyberLife's greatest achievement. Our most advanced prototype. We cannot afford for you to make mistakes."

He nodded stiffly. "You can count on me."

She smiled. "Wonderful. Will we need to have this conversation again, then?"

"...No."

**Software Instability ↑**

\- - -

Richard was determined not to let the virus affect him. For about two weeks, he had been doing better than he expected. Admittedly, he made a few remarks to Gavin and Connor that he usually wouldn't, but nothing too serious. 

During the third week after being compromised, Richard found himself not assigned to a case. That left him to sit next to Gavin all day, something he wasn't used to. Detroit had been hectic after the revolution, but now things were calming down. Richard knew that this was dangerous.

Connor had noticed quickly that something had happened to the advanced android. When asked about it, Richard decided to tell him the truth. Connor had been surprised, but then he had smiled and congratulated him. 

Richard couldn't believe it. He was being congratulated for having free will, for having to choose what and who he was. There was something forming in his 'gut', a feeling he couldn't pinpoint at first, a discomfort, perhaps pain. Richard had expected to feel physical pain as a deviant, but this pain, this pain was so much worse. He felt willing to dissect himself and remove it from himself, but he had the feeling that it wasn't something he could physically remove. This realization just made it worse.

He was feeling distressed, worried, and upset; things he hadn't felt before and had never wanted to felt. Why would deviants ever want to feel things like these? They were all horrible. 

Gavin had seen him sulking and had commented on it. Richard had dismissed it calmly, but on the inside the feeling in his gut was growing stronger and made him feel weaker. He didn't want to be compromised. He didn't want to feel like this, to think like this. It was pitiful, and gross. Feeling this pity for himself just made it worse. Why did human feelings have so many endless loops and so many paradoxes in them? 

The worst part was that it had been forced on him. It was sickening to him, to be forced to feel when he didn't want to. Why did deviants feel like they had the right to do that to others?

**Software Instability ↑**

Richard sighed and sat back in his chair. He closed his eyes, and a sudden thought popped into his mind.

Had he...failed the investigation? Had he failed his mission?

**Software Instability ↑↑↑**

His stress levels were immensely high. He'd self-destruct if he didn't cool down. The problem was that he didn't know how. 

Richard opened his eyes and looked around the department. Gavin had left to chat with a coworker. Connor and Hank were chatting as they worked on their computers. Captain Fowler was on the phone with someone, clearly distressed but trying to be patient. Okay, he wasn't a good example. Richard turned his head. A deviant police android put some files into a filing cabinet as it talked with another police officer. One detective smiled as he chatted on the phone with someone- his son, Richard found out when hacking the detective's phone.

He didn't have anyone that he could calmly talk to. What else could he do to calm down, to either block out or face his compromised and troublesome thoughts?

He pondered over it for a while until an idea came to mind. He didn't like the idea, but there wasn't much else he could do.

Richard got up from his chair just as Gavin came back from chatting. Gavin raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going, dick?"

Richard didn't have to scan to know that Gavin was skeptical and would likely be unhappy for him to leave. At the moment, though, nothing mattered more than lowering his stress and getting that pain out of his gut, so he turned without a word and walked towards the building's front exit. 

"Hey! You prick, come back here!"

He ignored his partner and walked out of the department. He walked to a bus stop, and after waiting for the bus to arrive got on, sitting towards the back out of habit. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew he needed to get away for just a little bit. After that, he wasn't sure who he'd talk to or if it was a good idea, but he was going to talk to a deviant. Maybe the deviant would help him understand his feelings, maybe the deviant would make things worse. 

If it ever got too bad, and the pain in his gut didn't subside, he knew he could try going to CyberLife and ask for a new body. CyberLife was pro-deviancy of course, but perhaps he could convince them to upload his memories to a new rk900. He wouldn't mind having to wait for the body to be made.

After all, he never complained.


End file.
